Ex-Merck Director to venture into wellness; aims to take Ayurveda to every household

After taking an exponentially rich experience in Merck India and other big chemical industries, Siddhartha Sengupta, Founder, Samskrt is set to take & promote Indian Ayurveda Practice to consumers across the globe.

Realising the gap between 100 per cent natural wellbeing and cosmetic care products across the globe with the existance and overpowering market demand of chemical-based products, Samskrt Natural Well Being Co Pvt Ltd, has iniatied to introduce a 100 per cent Ayurvedic product line, under the new brand named ‘Samskrt’. The brand is set to hit the Indian Wellness space in September 2015.

While donning with pre-launch strategies, Siddhartha Sengupta, Founder and Managing Director of Samskrt spoke to Wellness India to give us clear idea about the conceptualization, purpose and business strategy behind the new brand.

What was the reason behind conceptualising a natural wellbeing and cosmetic care brand? The idea was conceived by me and my friend actually and then, I thought to take it forward. After years of experience in chemical industry, I realized the need for offering Ayurvedic products to the consumers, which does not contain harmful chemicals and would give sureshot and impactful results. Since, I was working with cosmetic companies, I found that Ayurvedic wellbeing is lacking in the market. Moreover, my family and I have been practicing Ayurveda since last 5 years. We do yoga, take Ayurvedic medicines and herbs, consume Ayurvedic products, this way we never fall sick, even for a day. Thus, I thought of starting this venture to offer people what nature has given us and ancient practice of science- Ayurveda has converted into sureshot solution of regular ailments.

What is your motivation behind Samskrt? I am trying to make Ayurveda a lifestyle and to encourage people to make minor changes in their everyday life which must include Ayurveda practices like daily investing couple of minutes in taking deep breath in fresh, natural air, consuming Ayurvedic herbs and so on. It will keep you healthy and improve your wellbeing for the next 50 to 80 years of age. Am sure, once you make Ayurveda practice a regular habit, no one needs to pop pills to beat regular ailments. So far, people consider Ayurveda as an expensive practice, as they consider it to be an hefty affair like Baba Ramdev's concept. For many, Ayurveda is go to shop, buy Ayurvedic products and you are done! That is not Ayurveda; it’s beyond consuming herbal products. In fact, it’s a lifestyle actually. Samskrt is trying to take this lifestyle to every household across the globe. It will be a global venture.

When are you going to launch Samskrt? And what are your plans with the brand ahead? We are going to launch ‘Samskrt’ under the flagship of Samskrt Natural Well Being Co., by coming September. The product range will include massage oils, medicines as an injestables (tonics and capsules), cosmetics for face, body and hair. We would also give consultation of nutrition including what kind of food people should have and what kind of yoga and exercises they should do regularly. On-board we will have Ayurvedacharyas, Yogacharyas, doctors and masseurs for consumer’s convenience. These products and services could be availed through Samskrt’s official website and mobile app so that one could book the massage or doctor via app. We will also be available on the leading online market places like Amazon. While launching online, our products would also be available in spas, salons, leading hotels and hospitals.

What is the USP of Samskrt? Samskrt will be a 100 per cent natural product line, offering quality products produced by regular manufacturers of Ayurveda products, however, the products per say like oils would be made using natural ingredients and our specialised formula. The medicines will not have any USP because I don’t want to tweak traditional Ayurveda practice. Also, the cosmetics would be different from what you have ever seen; it will be the first of its kind for sure.

How will you promote Samskrt? Initially, in India, we are trying to contact as many salons as possible to start with. We could hold one day seminar in salons to talk explain consumers about Samskrt, giving them freebies in terms of massage, show them the benefits of Ayurveda or we could also have one small space for us in the salons to regularly resolve queries related with the products and its benefits. Likewise, in hospitals, we are planning to connect with high-end hospital chains, which could have one small space for Ayurveda. While, the spas can add Ayurveda massages in their different kind of offerings using our product. Worth mentioning here is the fact that our products won’t be available in retail Ayurvedic medical stores as the space is congested. There are already 30,000 Ayurvedic brands all across the world available. We will be the only brand, which is taking Ayurveda to every household. We will also promote it via social media. We will seek a lot of PR support to promote it. We will also have several influences of big names in terms of Yogacharyas and Ayurvedacharyas.

What are your plans to mark your presence in the overseas market? For abroad, we will have slightly different way of starting with Samskrt as, in Africa, there is one hospital which is interested in Samskrt products already. Likewise, in Middle-East, there is one investor who is showing interest towards making ‘Samskrt: A wellness clinic or spa’. Further, there is one person in each -France and Germany to invest our venture. People are already ready to extend support towards our brand in a small way initially.

What will be your target consumer group and pricing strategy? Our products would be suitable for even a new born to an ageing lot. However, mostly, we are targeting the milliners because they are the one who are trying to look at things differently. The products will be priced moderately to extend reach to every household.

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